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Theresa May had to deal with a coughing fit and a prankster during her speech - how did she do?

“There is a show in the West End called 'The Play That Goes Wrong' where an am-dram production is plagued by falling scenery and other disasters, and with a heckler rushing the stage and May's constant coughing fits that earned a cough drop from her chancellor, plus Boris's darting-eyed frowning from the front pews, The PM's speech threatened to be moving down a similar route.

“The resulting stills of a PM clutching her chest and coughing might suit anyone wanting to define her as weak and beleaguered but in reality her body language responses throughout showed toughness, resolve and flashes of the passion that she had been accused of lacking.

“During and since the election May's speeches have been delivered with a slight voice quaver and sprinkled with hesitant 'um's'.

“Despite the bin ends of a cold though, May spoke at conference without these verbal falters and with some congruent and - for her - powerful gesticulation.

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Theresa May saw her speech interupped by a prankster but she 'grew in strength' after

Theresa May's most powerful quotes

'I will be ruthless in cutting out waste, streamlining structures and improving efficiency'

She stepped into a different gear and toughened her delivery style for the rest of the speech

Judi James, Body Language Expert

“Her 'I'm sorry' at the start looked genuine but not vulnerable. She literally held her hands up in a gesture of open apology and admitted her approach during the election had been too scripted and too presidential.

“But then she stepped into a different gear and toughened her delivery style for the rest of the speech.

“Legs astride and using a jabbing finger-baton she stared at her audience pulling her lips in in a gesture of strength and defiance. Boris's applied 'play nicely' smile waned in the front row and he began to frown and rub his nose as her oratory took on a more powerful look.

“The heckler appeared to make it to the stage untroubled by security but it said a lot for the PM's mettle that she neither flinched nor lost her track.

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Theresa May speech: Judi James said the PM's hug with her husband was 'truly spontaneous'

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Theresa May also suffered an intense coughing fit during her speech

“Bouncing back with an ad-libbed joke she seemed to grow in strength until felled by the kind of choking coughing fits that give any professional speakers nightmares.

“It was her reaction to the coughing that could have won the day. Channeling some of the gimlet-eyed resolve of Margaret Thatcher, May battled on, still ad-libbing jokes and showing no signs of weakness.

“Her voice deepened and became firmer. She looked like a woman determined to get her messages over and the crowd that rose to its feet to cheer her on looked to have been doing so out of admiration rather than pity.

“Her second stage rush came from husband Philip and the huge bear-hug he gave her at the end formed the first truly spontaneous sign of affection that I have ever seen between a party leader and their spouse at the end of a speech.

“If the party were looking for a leader offering bravery, strength and resolve in the face of potential disaster May's body language hinted that she is still their woman.”